A Co Tipperary hotel which has been in receivership for as much as eight years, is finally to be sold.

The pine martin is a mustelid, a carnivorous mammal related to the otter, the stoat, the introduced American mink and, more surprisingly, the badger.

THE devil isn’t just in the detail at Ballyfin; it’s in the big picture too. A lavish, Regency-era mansion sitting pretty in a private demesne beneath the Slieve Bloom Mountains, this is not only one of the most extravagant five-star hotels in the country, but one of its most exquisitely restored country estates.

The theory that pine martens prey selectively on grey squirrels and that this can lead to native red squirrels recolonising areas that they had been banished from by the greys is fairly well known.

CAMROSS, ANATRIM CHURCH AND DELOUR RIVER WALK, CO LAOIS

CASTLETOWN WALK, CO LAOIS

GARDENER Dermot O’Neill has a lot to celebrate. A new TV series is currently being aired, he has a book coming out in the autumn, but more importantly he has been cancer free for two years.

Ireland is to get a €35m distillery that will resurrect the tradition of whiskey making in Tullamore, Co Offaly, bringing the production of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey home after almost 60 years.

SEVEN days after their greatest ever day, the Coolderry club laid their president to rest.

ON a couple of occasions over the past few weeks I’ve mentioned my concerns over the conservation status of grouse in this country and questioned the wisdom of having a legal shooting season.

A week-long search in the Slieve Bloom Mountains as part of the investigation into the disappearance of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender has proved fruitless.

Gardaí and members of the Defence Forces are continuing to conduct searches in the Slieve Bloom mountains today in the hope of finding the remains of Fiona Pender.

A search operation is continuing in Co Offaly today for the body of Fiona Pender, who has been missing and presumed dead for the past 12 years.

THE mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender pleaded with her daughter’s killer to give himself up.

Gardaí have mounted a new search for the body of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender.

FROM mobile phone coverage to bog restoration, Coillte’s huge land holdings play a wide role.

LANDOWNERS have made 804 objections to proposals to designate their property as a special protection areas (SPA) for the hen harrier.

Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Fiona Pender almost 12 years ago are due to continue excavations today at an area of woodland in the Slieve Bloom mountains.

Detectives were today scouring mountain woods for the body of a part-time model who vanished almost twelve years ago.

NOT only do you get 3,800 sq ft of modern living space at this Co Offaly home, you also get 150 recently-planted birch trees and 2,000 planted bluebells for spring colour glory.

MUNSTER landowners will bear the brunt of forest planting restrictions introduced last week by the Government for protection of the hen harrier bird.

RARELY has bird life in Ireland been receiving such publicity. Eagles, kites and hen harriers are all making headlines and attention could now be turning to the plight of songbirds which are facing a relatively new threat.

UP to 150,000 people are expected to descend on Tullamore after the Offaly town was announced as the venue for the 2007 National Ploughing Championships.

HUGH FARRELLY needs to chill out. For a mere €51.50 he got from Cork to Dublin the same day with a couple of long-necked Buds thrown in for good measure. (Irish Examiner, July 29).